Armed forces plan to arm Israeli drone fleet with laser-guided bombs, missiles

Amid the face off with China in Eastern Ladakh, the armed forces are pushing a case for arming their Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with laser-guided bombs, precision-guided munitions and anti-tank missiles for taking out enemy positions and armoured regiments.

The proposal, named ‘Project Cheetah’, has been revived by the armed forces after being pending for a long time.

It is expected to cost the government over Rs 3,500 crore.

“Under this project, around 90 Heron drones of the three services would be upgraded to be armed with laser-guided bombs, air to ground and airlaunched anti-tank guided missiles,” an official told a news agency.

The project to upgrade the drones for carrying out offensive operations against rivals would involve a number of Indiandeveloped solutions too.